


The Need To Be Needed

by Tht0neGal666



Series: Janet Drakes Guide To Success [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Batman Needs Robin, Gen, Tim Drake-centric, Tim is a bit obsessive, he gets it from his mommy, mother knows best, rawr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:32:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tht0neGal666/pseuds/Tht0neGal666
Summary: People don’t need to like you, Timothy, they need to need you. You must find something they lack, and fill the empty space until they can’t imagine life without you.





	1. The Need To Get On With It

**Author's Note:**

> chapters are really short. This is the beginning of the end. I've fallen in love with Janet Drake. Fuck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janet wouldn't be Happy, but it's her fault anyway.

Tim took a deep breath as he considered what he was actually planning on doing. It was risky and woefully childish, his mother would surely scold him were she home.

But she wasn’t. She wasn’t home. She rarely was. Even if she sent her letters of lessons every few days, she wasn’t home with him, and neither was Father, and the Nanny rarely looked his way. Thus, he justified with a nod, it was her fault he was desperate enough to do this in the first place.

Besides, surely, her anger would be quelled if she understood how perfect the situation was. Why he needed to act right now.

Because Jason Todd had died, and the world had fallen apart. Because Gotham nights were somehow darker without the traffic light palette running through the streets. Because the shouts of fear and pain from the victims of the Batman were getting worryingly loud. Because Richard Grayson was having trouble smiling. Because Timothy could do something about it, and it would probably even be mutually beneficial. Because Tim was so tired of being alone. 

Because Batman needed a Robin.

It was repulsively sentimental and compassionate of him. But, he was obsessed and needed to find a place among his Idols, even if it killed him. The son of Janet Drake does not half-ass obsession. He learned it from the best.

Any way you spin it, forcing The Batman to take him on as a protegee could end poorly. He could take offence to the notion of Jason being ‘replaced’. He could be hesitant to throw another child at the war he started, driven by guilt. He could contact the authorities or his parents with some claims of trespassing and make a mini-media nightmare to spite the boy for being nosey.

However, Timothy knew he would do none of these things. He knew it for a fact, as he traced a pinkie finger over the delicate cursive on the back of his latest letter, The Batman would accept him. Even if it took some whittling down, some extra effort and proof he could handle it, some extra injuries as he trained with an angry Batman as he knew he probably would be, The Batman would accept him eventually. What Tim was offering was just a bit too good to be true, for poor Bruce Wayne. 

The Batman needed a Robin.

He went out to find the man, his mothers smirk on his lips. Hopefully she will understand.


	2. He Needs A Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman has always needed a Robin.

The Batman needs a Robin. 

That was his reasoning, as far as anyone knew. As far as anyone asked. As far as anyone cared. 

It was true enough, as much as the older heroes hated to admit it, and surely his simple phrasing kept anyone from looking into it. Why should they? Tim was just some kid trying to be a hero right now. He almost wanted to laugh at the thought, that he was speaking some naive simplification of an issue, with a dead boy stifling conversation.

Alfred raised his eyebrow in disbelief nearly every time he saw Tim, like he expected Tim to give up. Then Alfred graduated to eyeing Tim with wariness, to worried about losing what’s left of his family to consider bringing the new boy in just yet. It was emotionally taxing, and the man was getting old, and Tim understood why. At least Alfred treated him as well as any honored guest. When it came to it, that’s all he really is.

Barbara doesn’t trust him. It’s both a pity and expected, and for the same reason; Barbara has that sharp look in her eyes that his Mother has. That he has. And if he sees it in her eyes, then she sees it in his. People with eyes like knives shouldn’t be trusted until you know what they know. He knew that just about the only thing in Gotham that Barbara Gordon didn’t know was what he knew, so she was allowed to be upset about that. 

Dick is trying, Tim knows, to make Tim feel included in their so-called ‘family’. It's obvious in his exaggerated shows of affection and his continual blabber and how brotherly the man was trying to be in general. Tim was no fool, though. He knew it wasn’t really Tim that Dick saw when they hung out. He had seen the picture with his and the Grayson’s face in Dick’s room, and was convinced if Dick took the time to see Tim he’d recognize him. Probably.

Bruce didn’t like him. That was okay. Tim could get over it. He had expected as much, really, with Bruce. The man had his heart beaten and blown up with his second son. Bruce was grieving, and Tim dared to stand where Jason had before. Tim knew exactly what he was doing. Bruce didn’t like him, because there was nothing he could do to get rid of the pretender in his son’s suit. He hated Tim because Tim was right. Tim was used to that.

Tim knew Batman needed a Robin

None of them liked him, really, and that was fine. They didn’t have to, he reminded himself, hand lifting to press the postcard he always kept on him while he was Robin. ‘saluti da venezia’ in a flowy font, with a sunset over a closing bridge. His father had scribbled a short sentence he barely bothered to read (but still had memorized- ‘we’re going to be out another month, champ, your allowance is with your nanny, be good’), followed by the real highlight of the letter-his mother's advice, a new tip or reminder or lesson printed on every card. This card, he got in October two years ago, and held the advice that motivated him to shoehorn The Batman into taking a new Robin.

He had been lonely before. And now, even though no one liked him for himself, even if all they saw when they looked was who he couldn’t be, even if they were waiting to kick him out, he wouldn’t let them. It was selfish of him, but that’s what he was taught. He embedded himself into the life of Bruce Wayne and, whether the man liked it or not, he needs Tim. Batman needs Robin.


	3. They Needed A Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team needs a leader.

Tim had a team now. A team of supers that all relied on him, and all he could do was smirk and pat the old, folded postcard that he still kept on him while Robin, and he was thankful his parents never signed the letters. 

He got more, of course, usually one a trip. But he needed it to prove a point, at this point, and he’d keep it until he was sure he had done his Mother’s advice justice.

As he looked around at the children of Bruce’s team, the supers that made up his own team, he smirked. Tough luck getting rid of someone so connected to the community Bruce tried to isolate himself from. It was another thing Robin did that Batman didn’t.

But, even with all the friends (3 friends.) he couldn’t hold a candle to the importance of Dick as far as connections in the hero commuity go. Tim wasn’t really needed here, it was just convenient. He could do better than convenient.

And yet, That's just how Bruce related to this. Bruce didn't always matter. Tim could see the bigger picture.

The bigger picture was that Young Justice needed a leader, and Tim, somehow (very purposefully) had wound up in that role.

Tim Drake was in charge of a team of the future world's finest. Janet would be....pissed, probably, admittedly, at the danger. But still. Proud, maybe. He'd ask her, if she was ever home. 

Robin led Young Justice. They needed a leader, and he knew exactly how to lead them. How to lead anyone, really, if he put his mind to it. Janet made sure of that much.

Bartholomew Allen needed someone to listen to him. He had so so so so much to say, no where near enough time to say it, and very few if any people willing to listen to him. He was inquisitive and prone to rants. All Tim really had to do was sit next to him and pay enough attention to follow what he was saying and respond appropriately. It was fine if he worked on his laptop. Bart understood multitasking, so he wasn't offended. Tim remembered the first few times. Bart stopping randomly and waiting for Tim to tell him to go away, or at least let out a sigh of relief that he had shut up. Tim rolling his eyes beneath his mask and prompting the speedster to continue. Tim trying not to think about how that was exactly what he did when he himself was ranting. Bart talked about everything, and Tim wanted to know everything, so it worked. 

Kon-El (Conner Kent) needed someone to give him a break. He had everyone on his back, and no escape from judgmental eyes. He was a clone of Superman. Just by existing, he had far more pressure then most people ever will have. He had only really been conscious a few months, and people expected the world of him. He just needed someone he could relax around and just be a person, without worrying about judgement every time he moved. Tim could understand that. He remembered the same eyes digging into his back while he grew up, son of the rich Jack and terrifying Janet Drake. He knew a thing or two about living up to unrealistic standards. Maybe, he could admit to himself, that it was a friendship both of them needed. A little.

Cassandra Sandsmark needed quiet. She was stressed out far more then anyone had any right to be, and Tim couldn't help feeling a bit guilty. He should be doing more to take responsibilities from her, but whenever he tried to she got possessive of her problems, something about having to do it herself, and he hated it. He understood pride, his mother had carved it into him nearly as deeply as the trust issues and lessons in red ink. Some things it was impossible to let people help with. Tim could also respect the fact that she probably knew what she was doing. He'd alert Wonder-Woman if Cassie got much more concerning. So, Cassandra needed silence sometimes. a rest from the work she had backed herself into. If Tim could do anything, it was shut up and distract people without them even seeing what he's doing.

In the end, most of them just needed a friend. And, well. That was fair. They were just kids. He was just a kid. Maybe he needed friends too. Janet would be having Kittens. Janet wasn't here. He knew it was kinda sad that the height of his personal teenage rebellion was making friends with no primary ulterior motive. Sure, they were still there. Gaining allies Just In Case, filling obligations as Robin, keeping Dick from worrying about his social life, rebelling against his mom, keeping an eye on the most dangerous Teenagers in the world. But. Mostly the Making Friends Because He Needs Them thing. 

Tim thought it was awful mature of him.


	6. ?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> go more in depth into what happened between Dick, Dami, and Tim
> 
> Tim knows that, on some level, Dick is right; Dami needs this to be a better person. But Tim is Petty As Hell and can't really care yet.

Tim isn’t Robin anymore. He overestimated his worth, made the naive assumption that being Dick’s brother was enough. That enduring the physical affection and confiding in the man was enough. It wasn’t.

Dick didn’t need him. He failed. Dick didn’t need him, and now there was an assassin that was more important to his first hero then Tim was, and if he listened close enough he could hear a voice that sounded a lot like Jason screaming in rage at being replaced. 

Tim disappeared. Dick didn’t need him. Fine. Dick didn’t need to need Tim. 

‘Bruce needed him’ he remembered, three days and six hours after leaving the manor. Bruce wasn’t dead, and Bruce needed him to prove that. Bruce needed him to get him back. Bruce needed him to fix this, because he was the only one that believed there was something to be fixed.

Tim got to work. The Bats mostly ignored him. They were worried, but not enough to actually deal with him. 

He didn’t need them to like him. He didn’t need them to pity him. He didn’t need them, at all, right now. He needed to get Bruce back.

Batman Needed Robin.

(Red) Robin needed Batman. 

He muttered an exasperated apology to Janet Drake.


End file.
